“apersonwhodoesnoteatordoesnotbelieveineatingmeat,fish,fowl,or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, etc.”

It may seem simple enough that a vegetarian does not eat meat, but there is another layer or two beyond the surface. There is also some misinformation that continues to pervade.

The Different Types of Vegetarians

Vegetarians can be broken down into 4 main groups:

Lacto-Ovo

Lacto

Ovo

Vegan

You might recognize the Latin root words, lacto and ovo. You will also use your critical thinking skills to come to the correct conclusion that a Lacto-ovo vegetarian consumes dairy products and eggs. Likewise, the ovo-vegetarian consumes eggs but not dairy and the lacto-vegetarian consumes dairy, but not eggs.

What about vegans? A vegan abstains from consuming any food derived from animal origin. The obvious sources of animal-derived foods would be meat, eggs, and dairy. A majority of vegans also do not eat honey. The keeping of bees is not as innocuous as one might think. The less obvious sources of animal-derived foods include gelatin, casein, and cochineal extract. If one identifies as vegan, one might also have strong moral convictions against the exploitation of animals for any purpose whatsoever, even going as far as avoiding any and all animal-derived products or products tested on animals. This includes leather, wool, lanolin, and certain cosmetics.

Do Vegetarians Eat Fish?

The answer is an emphatic and unequivocal “NO!”

Fish is not a vegetable!

If you are a pescetarian, please stop telling people you are a vegetarian. I understand you might feel (correctly so) that the average person might not be familiar with the term “pescetarian,” but an explanation such as, “the only meat I eat is fish,” is not terribly complicated, wordy, or difficult to comprehend. Likewise, there is also the belief that a vegetarian diet includes chicken. Chicken is not a vegetable either.

]]>https://www.elliottkim.com/2019/01/11/the-different-types-of-vegetarians/feed/0108Trying Recipes – Vegan French Toasthttps://www.elliottkim.com/2018/10/18/trying-recipes-vegan-french-toast/
https://www.elliottkim.com/2018/10/18/trying-recipes-vegan-french-toast/#respondThu, 18 Oct 2018 12:07:39 +0000https://www.elliottkim.com/?p=159I am starting a new series on this blog. People are always asking me for my recipes. I don’t work from recipes often, and I don’t think I’ve ever really written one down for any of my creations. I’m not guarding a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. I’m just lazy about it. I will get better at it, and one day I might be tasked with writing a cookbook. That day is not today. I will do the next best thing and share my take on someone else’s recipe.

People actively trade recipes, share them on social media, talk about them, and request recipes. How many of the recipes we see actually get made at home? How well do they turn out? Did you nail it? Did you follow it precisely or use artistic license? Was it an unmitigated disaster? I will try a recipe and see how it goes. In the first installment, we will try to make vegan French toast.

Vegan French Toast

Today’s recipe comes from Love and Lemons. I will make a vegan French toast. Wait? What? Vegan French toast? Doesn’t French toast require eggs? How can it be vegan?

For almost every non-vegan food, there is at least one substitute. Depending on the role eggs play in a recipe, there are numerous substitutes for eggs. In this recipe, the role of the egg is played by almond milk, nutritional yeast, and flour. The almond milk provides the creamy liquid consistency. Nutritional yeast gives a small boost of protein, vitamin B12, and the “eggy” flavor. Flour will thicken the mixture up some more.

Some of the other ingredients you’d expect in French toast are also included, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. The recipe calls for stale ciabatta bread, but fresh ciabatta is also fine. Heartier breads, especially those made with extra gluten, work well too.

Nailed It…Almost

I followed the recipe closely, but my tendency to wing it in the kitchen takes over. The ciabatta bread was not stale yet. I used slightly more nutmeg, since the already-ground nutmeg I have is not as potent as freshly ground. All-purpose flour is what I had on hand, and I am not going to purchase millet flour just for this recipe. I also added more cinnamon and slightly less maple syrup. If you want to intensify the cinnamon flavor, a tiny pinch of ground cayenne pepper will wake it up.

When I don’t have ciabatta bread, I’ve used a hearty whole grain bread, such as Dave’s Killer Bread. It holds together very well when dunked in the liquid. Nature’s Own whole wheat gets a little soggy, but bread doesn’t seem to last long enough to get stale in my house anyway.

I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan

I will make the bold claim that this vegan French toast is difficult to distinguish from the “real thing.” I have served this to my wife, daughter, in-laws, nieces, and nephews, and they all love it. Vegan modifications get a mixed reception. A few “veganized” dishes are indistinguishable from their non-vegan counterparts. Some are obviously different in taste or texture. There are some that are culinary trainwrecks. However, this French toast recipe is pretty close. When it’s time to make French toast, this is our go-to recipe instead of the traditional version made with eggs.

French toast doesn’t sound healthy and this is a healthy eating blog. However, part of healthy eating is a healthy relationship with food. Part of that healthy relationship is to treat yourself occasionally. The substitutions I have made steer this breakfast favorite in a healthier direction without compromising enjoyment:

Higher nutrient density with respect to caloric content than a standard French toast recipe

Increased protein and fiber content by using whole grain bread

Zero cholesterol by omitting eggs and going vegan

You could even argue that by making it healthier while still tasting awesome actually increases enjoyment over a traditional recipe.

If you follow A-list celebrities and their adventures, then you may have noticed that several have adopted a vegan diet. This is wonderful! People who have more influence over the public than I do have decided to take up this cause. However, the problem with celebrities is, they are generally far wealthier than us, and it further propagates the myth that eating vegan, let alone healthy, is prohibitively expensive for the average person. However, I’m not the average person either. I was a single parent, working a retail job, and now I’m a full-time adult college student. How can I afford such an expensive celebrity diet? Surely someone with a schedule as busy as mine with limited finances would subsist on the cheapest and most convenient junk.

Celebrity Vegans

Celebrities recognize that they are influential people, so they use their position of influence at times to hop on a soapbox to talk about politics and other issues. It is wonderful to have voices with a wider reach than mine, or even The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, broadcasting a message I believe in. But celebrities inhabit a different world than you or I do. If you can pay someone to cook for you and have enough money to buy all organic food, then eating healthier is no chore.

You and I do not have that luxury. My wife and I do all the shopping, gardening, and cooking. I have a busy schedule between parenting, a full-time load of college classes, a part-time job and 3 cats. The Nutrition program is one of the most rigorous and demanding. The sciences are heavily emphasized (translation – I have even less free time than other college students). One might examine my schedule and think I subsist on ramen noodles and Red Bull. That is obviously not the case. I am eating a carefully planned 100% plant-based diet. I was eating a carefully planned and nutritionally sound plant-based diet before I met my wife, when I was a retail employee and single parent.

Eating Healthier Can Cost Less

Meat and dairy are the most expensive items you will find in a grocery store. I have eliminated them from my shopping list. I will have to dig into the deepest recesses of my brain, and struggle to recall what I learned in 3rd grade about math. Then I can perform the mental gymnastics to figure out how my food budget is impacted by eliminating the most expensive items in the grocery store from my shopping list and replacing them with alternatives that cost significantly less.

When you attempt to do a one-for-one substitution of foods from a Standard American Diet, what you might perceive to be healthy eating skyrockets in cost. A friend of mine recently commented on Facebook that she could never go vegan because a dozen vegan cupcakes cost $31. Whether you’re vegan or not, cupcakes should not have such an important place in your intake of food such that single cupcakes costing $2.60 apiece will obliterate your food budget. If you feel you must switch to organic ramen noodles from regular ramen noodles, you see that it costs $3 for a package of the organic version versus $0.25 for regular ramen. The mock meat products sold by companies like Morningstar, Boca, Gardein, Quorn, and Beyond Meat are all more expensive than the products they imitate. Such products are often lower in protein content, further fueling the voices of the critics of plant-based diets. Such products do not have a regular place in a plant-based diet. They can be used for transition, variety, convenience, or fun. These are not the everyday protein sources for vegetarians and vegans. If you consider the costs of frozen dinners, Amy’s and Sweet Earth frozen dinners cost 2-4 times as much, and the portion sizes are noticeably smaller. Anything packaged for convenience will cost more, regardless of its nutritional value. If this is how you perceive healthy eating, eating healthy becomes expensive.

The “Affordability Axiom” is often used as the cop-out for neglecting to make healthy choices. Frugality is noble, right? However, in an extensive study done by Andrea Carlson and Elizabeth Frazão for the USDA, it was determined that healthy food actually costs less. I did my own comparison shopping one day and found that fresh fruit actually costs less than junk food and candy. This comparison was done in the store, on the same day. When you consider how junk food is typically purchased, the cost of avoiding healthy food increases even more. There is a significant markup for the same products in vending machines and the college campus convenience store.

Regular People Can be Vegan Too

I think it’s wonderful that people who have influence and reach greater than mine are advocating for plant-based diets. However, it hurts my cause too. When there is a widespread perception that eating healthier is more expensive and vegan is the most expensive way to eat, A-list celebrities promoting their vegan diets are not helping.

Instead of talking about your favorite celebrities and professional athletes, it would be better for me to talk about regular people like you and me who are eating healthier. In a recent survey by the Vegetarian Resource Group, it was found that among those surveyed, 54% of vegetarians in the United States earn less than $50,000 a year. This is not the diet of the rich. If you consider how income is distributed in the United States, that 54% represents a much larger number of people than the 46% of vegetarians making more than $50,000 a year. Eating a whole food plant-based diet is more affordable than you think.

]]>https://www.elliottkim.com/2018/09/18/the-problem-with-celebrity-vegans/feed/0114Gluten Free Isn’t Healthierhttps://www.elliottkim.com/2018/08/31/gluten-free-isnt-healthier/
https://www.elliottkim.com/2018/08/31/gluten-free-isnt-healthier/#respondFri, 31 Aug 2018 08:07:10 +0000https://www.elliottkim.com/?p=94My Food Service Operations Management professor spoke briefly about this during our last class. We were discussing current trends in menu development, and the first trend mentioned was the proliferation of gluten free items. My professor has worked as a registered dietitian in the past, so I think I can trust what she has to say about this. I share her sentiments about people hopping on a gluten free bandwagon believing it is a healthier way to eat.

Like many college students, I get asked about my major. There is one instance when I was asked and I answered that I am majoring in Nutrition. The follow up questions were, “Do you do anything special? Are you gluten free?”

Wait a minute. Why the hell would I be gluten free? Did my Organic Chemistry classmate diagnose me with Celiac Disease within minutes of meeting me? I think not. GLUTEN IS NOT BAD FOR YOU!!!!!!

I love pasta. I love bread. I love baking vegan cookies. Seitan is made almost entirely of vital wheat gluten and it is a great source of plant-based protein. Gluten is glorious.

Ok, gluten is bad for you if you have Celiac Disease, but for the average person, gluten is fine. There are people who do not have Celiac Disease, but have discovered a legitimate gluten intolerance. I’m happy you found a way to avoid the gastrointestinal distress that has plagued you. I enjoy the challenge of developing recipes that are vegan and gluten free, because either diet alone is perceived as being extremely restrictive. I have made gluten free vegan food that will have you talking like Gen-Z, saying things like, “lit” and “on fleek.”

I Went Gluten Free And I Feel So Much Better!

People do report feeling better and/or losing weight after eliminating gluten from their diets. Why is that the case? Many baked goods and other highly processed foods contain flour, and therefore gluten. Gluten was not the culprit. If you stop eating Twinkies®, cakes, and cookies all the time, guess what will happen? You’ll feel so much better! The real mechanism of weight loss is the elimination of highly processed foods. If you quit eating regular pasta and replace it with brown rice pasta, guess what? The increased fiber content of brown rice will do your body good. Again, it’s not the elimination of gluten that’s helping you feel better. With the exception of white rice and white potatoes, most gluten-free grains are higher in fiber and protein. These are the good carbs you want to be eating, such as quinoa, amaranth, millet, and brown rice. One special treat is black rice or forbidden rice. It is one food worth every penny of it’s higher cost.

Shopping in the Health Food Section

If you’re reading this blog, you have probably wandered into the “healthy foods,” or “natural foods” section of the supermarket. You may have also noticed that the gluten free products are kept there. The average person on a Standard American Diet may pass by the section and see the big sign that says, “Gluten Free.” This might lead one to conclude that being gluten free is healthier.

The other issue with gluten free food is that the gluten free food that simulates traditionally gluten-containing foods can sometimes leave much to be desired. It is also more expensive than the food it mimics. Food science has made incredible advances, and many gluten free foods have improved dramatically. Even if you have Celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, I would still advise you to limit these foods, simply for the sake of saving money. Brown rice and potatoes are cheap and have satisfying nutritional density.

Keep Calm and Eat Gluten

It is easy to be led astray by misinformation, especially in the realm of food and nutrition. The promises made by fad diets are captivating. Who doesn’t want to lose unwanted adipose tissue around the midsection? It’s easy to point to a particular food or ingredient and vilify it, whether it’s carbs, gluten, fat, sugar, artificial coloring, dairy, etc. Don’t just take my word for it. If you do have the opportunity to consult with a registered dietitian, ask the questions and answer theirs truthfully. If you know how to do research, have critical thinking skills, can identify reliable sources of information, appraise the reliability of a source, and can sniff out BS, then you are well on your way.

]]>https://www.elliottkim.com/2018/08/31/gluten-free-isnt-healthier/feed/094I Don’t Have The Recipehttps://www.elliottkim.com/2018/08/14/i-dont-have-the-recipe/
https://www.elliottkim.com/2018/08/14/i-dont-have-the-recipe/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 18:25:56 +0000https://www.elliottkim.com/?p=79I post a lot of food pictures on social media. People sometimes comment and ask for the recipe. But there’s a problem. I don’t have the recipe. That’s right. I made this delicious looking entree and I have no idea how I did it. OK, that’s not true. I have a pretty good idea, but if you ask me how many teaspoons of salt or how many cloves of garlic I put in it, you’re going to get a shrug. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I do not have the recipe. It’s not because I don’t want to share. I’m not being secretive. There is no secret blend of 11 herbs and spices that I am guarding in a vault. Writing down an actual recipe is tedious. Taking a photo, even putting in the effort to take the best possible photo I can, is far less work than writing down a recipe.

A Little Music Lesson

When you hear popular music, the musicians often do not have formal training in music. Many musicians cannot read music. Sometimes the musicians just “know” or “feel” it. I have no formal training in the kitchen. I have not even taken a single cooking class. Some genres of music rely heavily on improvisation, such as blues and jazz. The same piece of music is not performed the same exact way every time.

Here’s an example of what I think of when you say recipe. It is an arrangement of “Rocky Top,” with all the parts for all the musicians in the band.

As you can see, the parts for each instrument are written out in detail. There is no room for interpretation here. Each instrumentalists’ part on its own sounds nothing like “Rocky Top,” but when it’s all played together, you hear the song you know and love. Yes, I’m going to use “Rocky Top” as an example since I am a student at the University of Tennessee.

In contrast, below is a “fake book” arrangement of “Rocky Top:”

It still conveys the key elements of the song, but it is lacking detailed instructions. The basic structure, lyrics, vocal melody, and harmony are all that are included. It is up to the musicians performing to fill in the gaps with their musical knowledge, their abilities, and their creativity. Continuing with the recipe analogy, the fake book page is like an Instagram post with a caption listing the ingredients.

An even more stripped down version of the song is what you find most often on the internet. You have even less information here, but a capable group of musicians would be able to take this and perform a complete arrangement of the song, provided that the musicians have at least heard the song a few times. Even further removed from a full-blown recipe, the “chords from the internet” is like a list of ingredients, or a status update saying, “I made curried lentil tacos on corn tortillas tonight!”

It may even be preferable to have less information available. The full score pictured near the beginning of this blog post is too much information for a small group of musicians. When you have less information, you fill in the blanks more. By doing so, you individualize it to your own style.

Faking It

When you first learn how to cook, you may want to follow a recipe to the letter. However, once you gain confidence in the kitchen, you will be slinging spices and seasonings like a pro. You’ll find that the recipe calls for one clove of garlic. Who the hell puts only one clove of garlic in a dish?! That might be your first foray into taking chances and putting your own personal stamp on your cooking. That’s what it’s all about. Cooking is a creative endeavor.

If I only followed recipes, I’d never come up with most of the stuff I do. Go ahead and experiment in the kitchen. You will surprise yourself. There are times when I have no idea what I’m making for dinner until after I have chopped onions cooking in the skillet. Only you know how much cayenne pepper you can tolerate. If you followed my recipe exactly, your mouth will be on fire and you’ll be projectile sweating. When you look up a recipe, feel free to increase, decrease, or omit. Once you start doing that, you can feel your way through cooking dinner.

You Can Have The Recipe…. Later

You may be waiting a long time. A husband, father, full-time college student, part-time employee, and full-time crazy cat person has a busy life.

In my future work as a dietitian, part of my job could include developing and documenting recipes. If I end up in private practice, I will definitely have to develop recipes. There may be a cookbook in the future. I’m not promising anything but an effort to share actual recipes in the future.

I am more than happy to share. If I want more people to experience plant-based foods and how delicious they are, it doesn’t make sense for me to be secretive. Coca Cola and Colonel Sanders can keep their secrets. I’m here to share. However, you won’t get a note-for-note transcription. You might be lucky to get the “chords off the internet.”

My name is Elliott and I have decided to start this blog because I care about nutrition and healthy eating. This passion for healthy eating inspired me to go back to school at age 42 to pursue a degree in Nutrition. I took the first 2 years worth of classes at a community college, and I am about to start at the University of Tennessee in less than 2 weeks!

When I started this new chapter in my life, I hadn’t been in a college classroom in 20 years. I had some of the usual fears that older students have. However, after the first few days of the semester, I felt like I fit right in. There were many other adult students. The students fresh out of high school proved to be a pleasant surprise. I got along great with them too. The kids provided just as much inspiration as the single parents fighting against the odds to keep it together enough to graduate with honors.

I have already brainstormed on several ideas for blog posts. Writing and publishing them is next. I don’t know how frequently I’ll post or what my schedule will permit, but I will strive to provide the most accurate information to the best of my abilities. There is so much information out there and even more misinformation. It takes a critical mind to sort it all out. As a student, it is my responsibility to present the most accurate information possible, especially since food and nutrition is vital to your health.